World Breastfeeding Week, August 2013
The theme for this year, resonates close to our hearts and desire as wisemommies „Breastfeeding support: close to mothers“…support other moms during pregnancy and the critical days, weeks and months after delivery.
I am beyond thankful for those in my life who have supported, educated, and helped me to be successful in breastfeeding. Not only am I thankful, but my children have benefited from that support. Thank you!
Breastfeeding isn’t easy for everyone. I remember having to get over my own 2 month hump of frustration such as soreness, exhaustion, isolation, judgement and pure pain at times. Once I got past major issues, breastfeeding actually became really easy and even simplified my life.
I breastfed my first child until 18 months with supplements and have exclusively breastfed my twins for nearly a year now. I know now, with my first child, that I could have breastfed him exclusively without the supplements, if only I had known some of the things that truly have helped me to increase my milk. I know because I made those changes to feed my twins….
My biggest recommendations to moms breastfeeding(beginning days/weeks especially): sleep when you can, seriously, take some herbal/natural supplements to help increase your milk such as coconut milk and fenugreek. Also, pump between feedings and whenever you can, everyday, every couple of hours, even just 30 minutes after a feed, for at least 1-2 months.
WHO (world health organization): “recommends exclusive breastfeeding until a baby is 6 months old, and continued breastfeeding with the addition of nutritrious complementary foods for up to 2 yrs.”
At 10 months of age, I’m still feeding my twins 9x a day, each of them, so usually 15-17 feeds a day with 1-2 tandem feeds. It’s been a lot of dedication but has paid off with regards to their health, especially being premature babies, saving our family lots of money, and being more convenient for me….
Some other posts that might be of multiple interest: Our shock of finding out we were pregnant with twins, My twin birth story, Placed in different rooms in the NICU, Recovering from a C-section: The Hall Walk, Pretty good for a white boy, Bringing newborn twins home from hospital, Hands free pumping bra, KMC: Holding baby like a Kangaroo,
